Starting From Nothing - The Foundation Podcast | Building Your Business Entirely From Scratch.

Today’s guest made $2M in profit last year without tracking any metrics.   Giacomo Peldi Guilizzoni is Founder and CEO of Balsamiq Studios, LLC. Their goal is to help people create software and websites that are easier to use by providing software tools, teaching people about UX and building a long-lasting company. Balsamiq is unique because it has been bootstrapped for the past 8 years, and it was an almost instant success. Within 27 months, Balsamiq made $2M in revenue and every year, for the past five years, Balsamiq has made $2M in profit. Even with that success, Giacomo still isn’t finished implementing his original vision. He understands that software product development is a long, gradual process. It’s a wild story about risk management, organic growth and saying no. I’m really excited to share it with all of you.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Balsamiq: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Forums Learn more about Balsamiq: Product Bl

Will you be able to take massive action to improve your life when your back is against the wall?   If you have a strong Foundation, you can.   At the end of last year, Scott Southwick had his back against the wall. Now he’s taking action and implementing The Foundation process to overcome limiting beliefs and bootstrap a startup. Discover how Scott is focusing on the result to develop a business and make sales as a student of The Foundation, and learn how he leverages his role as a consultant to pay for the course.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Scott: LinkedIn   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

How do you bootstrap a company for 18 years without taking on any partners or investments?   Get ready to find out.   Tom Kulzer founded AWeber Communications, Inc. in 1998. He is still CEO and still owns 100% of the company. It’s an incredibly unique story that will teach you how to bootstrap a self-sufficient software company – and avoid the mistakes that Tom made along the way.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Tom: TomK (at) AWeber.com Learn more about AWeber   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Do you want to escape corporate servitude to live a life of value and make a greater impact?   Four years ago, Carl Mattiola left Tesla Motors and graduated from The Foundation as one of the most successful people in the class. He was generating $3-4k in monthly recurring revenue for a software product. Now he is making well over six figures every month as the Founder or Co-Founder of three companies: ClinicRise, ClinicMetrics and Breakthrough PT Marketing. You can make the leap too. Listen to Carl’s story to discover how The Foundation helped him achieve his goals.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Carl: Website | Carl (at) CarlMattiola.com ClinicRise ClinicMetrics Breakthrough PT Marketing   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Going through The Foundation program pays for itself – and then some.   Phil MacNevin is the Founder and President of Lift Media, a web design & marketing agency dedicated to delivering beautiful and impactful marketing tools for increasing growth to digital marketers around the world. Three weeks after joining The Foundation, Phil made his first software sales. Six weeks after joining The Foundation, Phil paid off The Foundation’s course and was generating revenue with his own course. 2½ years after joining The Foundation, Lift Media is expected to make $1 million annual recurring revenue.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Phil: Facebook | Twitter Lift Media Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't (Rockefeller Habits 2.0) by Verne Harnish   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Are you having trouble getting your first few customers? Is it hard to scale from $5k a month to more? Nathan Barry has run into the same obstacles – and he developed strategies for overcoming them. Nathan is Founder and CEO of ConvertKit, one of the fastest-growing bootstrapped startups online. In just 18 months, he grew from less than 5k monthly recurring revenue to more than 400k monthly recurring revenue.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Nathan: Website | Twitter | Email Learn more about ConvertKit Watch “The Long, Slow, SaaS Ramp of Death” on YouTube   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Today’s episode is a really unique opportunity for anyone looking to get into the world of business to learn from one of the world’s top marketers. Ryan Levesque is leading the way in in the marketing world with the Ask method. He’s already helped companies sell over $100M in products using this method. Ryan is author of the best-selling book Ask and an investor in Bucket.io, the segmentation software entrepreneurs are using to implement the Ask method in their business. You’re going to learn why the ask method works and why it’s been so successful, then Ryan will take you through the process of how he got started in business, where the idea for Bucket came from and his strategy for launch.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Learn more about Bucket.io Order a FREE copy of Ask by Ryan Levesque (just pay $4.95 for S&H) Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Chandler Bolt joined the Foundation in 2013 and dropped out of college – now he’s building a company worth about $2.25M. At The Foundation, we teach people how to build software businesses because they’re a good long-term financial bet, but the model applies to any business with a product. Chandler pursued the self-published book industry. Chandler is the author of five best-selling books, the most recent of which is Book Launch, and he’s the Founder & CEO of Self-Publishing School, the #1 resource for writing your own book. He’s helped thousands of people on their journey to writing their first book. Now he’s going to teach you how he used The Foundation process to drop out of college and grow a multi-million dollar business.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Pick up a FREE copy of Chandler’s most recent book Published: The Proven Path From Blank Page to Published Author Read more of Chandler’s Books: Amazon Learn more about Self-Publishing Scho

Do you want a blueprint for creating and selling high-ticket offers? I don’t know anyone in the world better at creating and selling high-ticket offers than John Logar. He set The Foundation’s record for the most sales generated while going through the program – over $120k in six months. He helped one speaker at the The Foundation Bootstrap Software Summit close $1M in sales from the stage. He’s the best at understanding what people want. John can’t write a single line of code but he has sold millions of dollars worth of software, and he’s going to tell you how you can too.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Learn more about John: ConsultingUnleashed.com | CallJohnLogar.com How to Master the Art of Selling by Tom Hopkins   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

If you want to hear why The Foundation process works, then you need to listen to this episode. Dan was one of the original 88 people that participated in The Foundation’s Software Roundtable – now he’s CEO of Follow Up Boss and generating millions of dollars in revenue. Dan and his partner developed Follow Up Boss for six months before joining The Software Roundtable. They had an idea, but they weren’t gaining traction with it. They realized they needed to niche down and The Foundation was able to teach them everything they didn’t know they needed to know to bootstrap a software business, while offering an extra layer of support and guidance along the way.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Dan: Dan (at) FollowUpBoss.com Learn more about Follow Up Boss: Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

“I wish I had heard this interview two years ago. It probably would have saved a lot of hard times.” –Wyatt Jozwowski   Bootstrapping is great because it forces you to focus on what matters: maximum profit in the least amount of time, while maintaining the ability to reorient and make the best decisions. There’s also a fine line between making decisions that matter and making short-term decisions that hurt you in the long-term. To help you walk that fine line and make the best decisions for bootstrapping your startup, Wyatt Jozwowski & David Abrams share how they turned Demio’s rocky start into a successful launch and the lessons they learned along the way.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Try out Demio: Website | Facebook | Twitter Connect with Wyatt: Twitter Connect with David: Twitter   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Daniel Himel graduated from The Foundation, left his day job at 35 to run a startup, and then sold his company.   Now he’s getting ready to do it all again.   If you want to build a business like a graduate of The Foundation, then you need to check out this story.   Click to learn more and read the blog post: TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Daniel: DanielHimel.com | Twitter Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters

Don’t learn to become an entrepreneur as quickly as possible – learn how to become an entrepreneur the best way possible.   Zach Johnson, Founder of FunnelDash, went from employee to the trenches to Founder in just four years – and he learned to be a self-reliant marketing expert along the way.   His strategies will help you make a plan, teach yourself and be more self-reliant.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post: TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Zach: Facebook | LinkedIn   FunnelDash: Website | Facebook | Twitter Leadpages ONTRAPORT Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters

Every startup founder needs to learn how to optimize their business like a product. Rob Walling is a serial SaaS entrepreneur who has been bootstrapping for 16 years. He has the best strategies to scale a bootstrapped startup and he’s here to share them with you.   Resources Learn more about Rob: Software By Rob | Twitter Listen to Rob’s podcasts: Startups For The Rest Of Us | ZenFounder Improve your email marketing campaign with Drip Attend MicroConf 2017 – April 9th-11th or April 11th-13th Apply to FounderCafe, an online community of entrepreneurs helping each other succeed Start Small, Stay Small: A Developer’s Guide to Launching a Startup by Rob Walling Eric Sink on The Business of Software: The Book | The Blog Joel Spolsky’s Blog: Joel On Software   You can learn more by reading expanded show notes at TheFoundation.com/podcast. Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

How do you know if you have a good idea or not? Today you will learn how to find good ideas and reach product-market fit in a bootstrapped, early-stage startup. Eben Pagan is a veteran entrepreneur in the information technology space who now devotes his life to training new entrepreneurs in his best strategies and techniques for business, marketing and wealth creation.   Learn more with the expanded show notes at TheFoundation.com/Podcast.   Lay The Foundation: Reaching Product-Market Fit Invest your attention, energy, time and effort into things you will enjoy being a part of. Your product needs to resonate with people. It’s hard to grow a business if you have to talk people into it. It’s important to go into any entrepreneurial venture with a realistic model of how often things work and how often things don’t work. The product is the marketing. Balance your vision and your customer’s vision. Consider both philosophical marketing decision and tactical marketing decisions together, even in the early stages o

We all know what it feels like to be economically vulnerable.   Everyone struggles with their relationship to money and we’ve all laid awake at night worrying. Clay Collins, CEO and CoFounder of Leadpages, knows what that feels like – so he empowers people with some of the best marketing tools online.   Leadpages helps entrepreneurs reduce friction by creating done-for-you models for economic value creation, business growth and income. You know the templates work because Clay uses many of them to grow Leadpages.   Clay also generated revenue in their first year as a bootstrapped startup by developing a one-to-many direct sales marketing system that cuts down on costs without cutting down on value.   Learn more by reading expanded show notes at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Learn more about Clay: Leadpages | Twitter Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Cat Lavery & Allen Brouwer, founders of Best Self Co., achieved their Kickstarter goal in just two days - and then destroyed it. Two years later, they won the Shopify Build-a-Business competition, culminating in a few days of socializing with inspirations such as Tim Ferriss, Tony Robbins, Marie Forleo, Daymond John, and Russell Simmons. All this thanks to what they learned as students in The Foundation.   For more info on how Cat & Allen 20x’d their goal and rose to success, see the full show notes at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Learn more about BestSelfCo: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Watch Cat and Allen ring the opening bell of the NYSE Join The BestSelf Inner Circle

Are you an entrepreneur, or are you creating a job that you don’t even like? Do you know what an entrepreneur actually is?   Today’s guest, Michael Gerber, is a legend in the world of entrepreneurship – and he’s here to help.   For full resources and more info on Michael, see the show notes at TheFoundation.com.   In This Interview I Ask: 4:20 - Let's talk about distinguishing between entrepreneurs and people who are just getting in business because they have an idea. 14:20 - If you go into a small business and they're breaking even running their little shop, where do you start with them? 14:45 - What is the difference between a personal dream and an impersonal dream? 15:20 - Have you read Atlas Shrugged? Her philosophy seems to be that we are intrinsically motivated by selfish desire. What are your thoughts on that and how does that apply to this system for entrepreneurs? 18:50 - What about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs? If somebody is at breakeven or they're at the point where cash flow is an issue for them,

I have Ryan Moran on the podcast today because he has one of the coolest minds I have ever met in the entrepreneurial space. He is the Founder of Freedom Fast Lane, a business that inspires, educates, and empowers people to live extraordinary lives through the understanding that money and freedom are the result of who you become, rather than the other way around. Ryan is also the Founder of Capitalism.com, which exists to dispel the theory that the government is the best solution to problems, and it instead strives to empower individuals to take personal responsibility for their actions. “The more experienced I get in business the more I realize that the things that are hard to me are easy to someone else, and the things that are big to me are small to someone else. So we might as well just create whatever the heck we want in life, right?”   In This Interview I Ask: 4:45 - How did you get into business? What has your path and trajectory been like? 7:15  – What’s the difference [between an entrepreneur and kn

Jennifer Hudye is a relationship marketing expert and the founder of Conscious Copy. She helps coaches, authors, experts and influencers in the online space develop an authentic relationship with their prospects, so that they're not trying to sleep with their prospects on the first date.   “It's becoming an authentic influencer, building your tribe, while still making sales through email marketing.”   In This Interview I Ask: 3:05  – From the time that you were born right through Conscious Copy, what was your story? How did you arrive at that? 5:20 – You quadruple your investment in Princess Venture, Inc. (before turning 18). What then? 6:15 – So how old are you right now? 7:25 – Did you go the college route? 7:35 – As somebody who was groomed, essentially, and influenced to be an entrepreneur from a very young age, why did you decide to go to college? Let's just say it in Tony Robbins terms, what was your outcome goal for going to college, even though you already had in your mind, and in reality, ways to ge